Milosevic could have been cured: Russian doctor

A Russian doctor who examined the autopsy results of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s body said on Wednesday that Milosevic could have been cured.

“Milosevic belonged to the category of patients with a light coronary condition. He had only one vessel affected. It could have been cured,” Leo Bokeria, head of Moscow’s Bakulev Cardiovascular Surgery Center, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying after returning from The Hague, where four Russian doctors including Bokeria checked Milosevic’s autopsy results.

Milosevic could have lived for many more years if he had been treated “in any specialized clinic, especially a clinic like ours,” Bokeria said.

Milosevic was found dead at the tribunal’s detention center in The Hague on Saturday. UN war crimes tribunal spokeswoman Alexandra Milenov said Sunday an autopsy conducted by Dutch toxicologist in the presence of Serbian doctors revealed Milosevic died of a heart attack.

Bokeria, who was shown the video of the autopsy in The Hague, ruled out falsification in Milosevic’s autopsy and said Russian doctors had found no signs of violent death.

Milosevic had suffered from chronic heart problems and high blood pressure. Last month, the UN war crimes tribunal turned down Milosevic’s request for provisional release to go to Russia for medical treatment.

Milosevic’s body was flown back to Belgrade from Amsterdam on Wednesday afternoon. His funeral was set to be held on Saturday in his hometown of Pozarevac, some 80 km east of Belgrade, a senior official from his Socialist Party said. Enditem

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